In the Name of Honor

My painting of the woman name Mukhtar Mai

This is a book report I wrote for my English class. It is about the book In the Name of Honor. I encourage you to read it.

Imagine one world; it is a small world, but it is also huge at the same time. It holds billions of souls where each one is unique and special. Many of these souls have wonderful lives and live in freedom. Now imagine a woman who is peaceful and faithful to the tradition of her people. She does not speak out against her elders or anyone else. Now imagine this woman being ripped away from her peace. Imagine this woman being surrounded by darkness with the only light coming from death. Will she fight this darkness? Or will she take this evil light and put an end to her misery? This is the choice that Mukhtaran Bibi faced. In the world of Pakistan she was a nobody. She was a woman, a poor woman; therefore she meant nothing. She was an item of trade. Prejudice is alive, not just for African Americans, not just Muslims, but for women. It is a plague that has been inflicting this small world since the beginning of time. There are many ideas as to what may cure this plague, but each one is a slow and agonizing process that will only work with time.

Mukhtaran Bibi was 28 years old when her life came to a halt. Her 12 year old brother was initially accused of speaking with a woman above his caste (later accused of raping this woman), and the punishment fell upon his sister. To restore the honor of this woman’s family, Mukhtaran is gang raped by the village leaders. “I am there true, but it isn’t really me anymore: this petrified body, these collapsing legs no longer belong to me. I am about to faint, to fall to the ground, but I never get the chance—they drag me away like a goat led to slaughter.” (Mai 9) How could she resist these men, these animals? She could not. When a woman is raped, her honor and her life are stolen. In her situation women are suppose to kill themselves to save their family from the shame brought upon their shoulders. Mukhtaran knows this and desperately attempts suicide, but she was stopped by her mother and an inner flame that was lit the night of her tragedy. “Finally, out of nowhere, a surprising fit of anger saves me from that stupor.” (Mai 19) Now she longs for vengeance. This is a startling discovery because all her life she has been taught to forget herself and the silence of submission. She decides to speak out, to take a stand, and to do what no one dared; she demanded justice. “Aside from my family, I have only one strength to call upon: my outrage.” (Mai 31)

Mukhtaran realized that she is sorely disadvantaged, for she is illiterate. All she knew was how to keep a house. She knew nothing of her rights, or if she even had any. She was taught in the ways of her people, “It teaches us to forget ourselves.” (Mai 91) Soon she realized that intelligence was her key to vengeance and to equality. She must not despise men; this will not win their respect, which she must gain. Mukhtaran states that, “the solution is to fight men as equals.” (Mai 112) This seems insane, when she does not have a standing, at least not yet. It is difficult, to say the least, for her story to be told accurately. Corrupt police, pawns of those in power, twist and turn her story until they say she has made up the whole thing. They try to take her mind and replace it with lies, but she stays strong and does not allow her precious freedom of thought to disappear like a stream in summer. She takes her case all the way to high courts. Eventually, her story was told world wide and soon it became the heart of a women’s right movement.

Mukhtaran Bibi started a school with donation and compensation money. Her dream was to educate the girls of future generations. This became her life; it kept her breathing and her hopes high. She wanted the girls to learn more than what she did as a child so that their fate would be different from hers. “The wife doesn’t know how to read. For her, the world exists only through her husband.” (Mai 89) Mukhtaran was changing this for over a hundred girls. Her life was and is in constant danger because she was a threat for the powerful. However, with support from her family, friends, and the silent hopes of many, she stands in courage. This education was a mere step on the path to equality, but battle rages beyond intelligence: it battles tradition. This was shown in the story of the educated woman who is raped and, like Mukhtaran, is ignored by the law. “These two embattled heroines have shown us that any woman, whether she’s educated or illiterate, will have to fight hard to obtain justice.” (Page 142)

She began as a poor peasant woman who was divorced, but respected. She spoke out and was freed. “I had no idea that speaking about one’s pain, about a secret that feels shameful, can set both mind and body free” (Mai 89). Now Mukhtaran has become a symbol of women’s struggle, not just in her village or in her country, but a symbol to the world. It is strange that women, who are treated like dirt, are also seen as honor to the men. This is just the spark that is needed to ignite an explosion of unasked questions. Mukhtaran Bibi says, “The real question my country must ask itself is, if honor of men lies in women, why do men want to rape and kill that honor?” (Mai 150). This “honor” that the men carry is perverse and will only be changed with education and time. Mukhtaran Bibi, now called Mukhtar Mai meaning “respected older sister”, is a new person, she has called for reform, has challenged tradition, and she will not be silenced.



This is a poem I wrote after being inspired by Mukhtar Mai...

Silence.
She walks above the ground,
Floating unnoticed.
She keeps her thoughts to herself,
Her fears, her dreams, she is taught to forget.

Silence of submission.

She is taken into darkness,
She screams but in vain.
She makes noise,
But nothing is heard.

Silence

A fire begins within her,
She will not extinguish it.
Her tongue is suddenly free to speak,
She speaks her dreams,
She roars like a lion.

She is heard.